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H. o. Isc oooooooo LD HoGsHEAD cLosRE Patented Apr. 16, 1929.

`narran strates 1,709,4ee. PATENT oFFicfE;

HENRY ORMOND SCHOOLFIELD, OF MULLINS, SOUTH CAROLINA, ASSIGNOR TO 'MUL- LINS LUMBER COMPANY, CORPORATION OF SOUTHCAROLINA. i

` i Hoosnnan oLosURn.

Application 4tiled. lMay 2, 1927.' Serial No. 188,283.

The present invention relates to hogshcads or barrels, and particularly to ends, tops or closures therefor. The invention is `particularly adapted, though by no means limited, to use in connection with `the relatively large hogsheads employed in the tobacco industry for` containing packed tobacco leaves.'

It is one of the principal objects of the invention to eliminate the following disadvantagenow generally experienced in connection with the hogsheads used for this purpose` The tobacco leaves. after being picked by the planters and preliminarily dried and curedby them, are taken out of the drying barns `and are graded. After grading, it

iscommon custom to convey the graded tobacco to a central warehouse, where the tobacco is soldl at auction on the warehouse floor. Here the tobacco is bought by the tobacco dealers,l andthe partially dried leaves are `packed tightly in hogsheads, in which they are shipped to` the` wholesalers re-drying plant.

.Upon their arrival atthe re-drying plant, thehogsheads areturned on end, the lower hoops are cutand removed, which permits the stave's to `spread at the bottom of the hogshead, making it possible to lift the hogshead ott the packed leaves, which, owing to the tightness with which they were packed, have assumed the form of the interior of the hogshea-d. The tobacco leavesaiie removed from the head, which at this time `1s resting on the floor,and arerun through suitable drying apparatus, `which removes all moisture from dividual heads or end closures of the hogsheads, but the sections of each head become A, disassembled and mixed with sections of other heads. As these head sections are of different widths and lengths, `it is, in practice, y impossible readily to locate the necessary sections to assemble into a complete head of circular form and of the properisize to lit i'nto the end of the re-coopered hogshead.

lli is therefore customary to practice in purchasing hogsheads, for the purpose above stated, to purchase at the same time large quantities of board lumber ofthe same thickness as the head sections, and this lumber is sawed in lengths approximately equal to the diameter of the desired head. A new head for the reassembled hogshead is then laid out and sawed in the following manner: i

Enough head sections are laid out in contact 'to cover approximately the area of the head desired. A section of the cut lumber is inserted somewhere about the middle portion of this assembly7 which provides an available head area larger than that required for the desired head, and from this assemblya new head is out. y

lt is obvious that this procedure requires a very considerable amount of labor and equipmentl and involves a very appreciable waste of lumber, the waste including the useless cut-olf end lengths of the head sections formerly used, and also including large quantities of new lumber incorporated with the old to produce a new head for the used hogshead. i

The principalobject of the invention above referred to is to provide a head, end or closure for a hogshead so constructed that neither of the above described wastes need occur.y

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, which illustrate the invention in preferred form, but which are notl to be taken as a definition of the limits of the ina vention, reference being had to the appended claim for that purpose.

In the drawings tV Figs. l to 3 inclusive are somewhat diagrammatic top plan views of exemplary `embodiments of thc invention;

Fig. l :is a similar view illustrating an assembly of head sections for `re-sawingin accordance with methods heretofore used and .illustrating the lumber saved bythe present Cil ill)

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` man from a pile of indiscriminately mixed Uil promptly and accurately assembled to form a new head of precisely accurate dimensions and without any sawing, waste or addition of lumber. `In Fig. lof the drawings, there is illustratedv one formy of head for accoinplishing this purpose. As illustrated, the invention provides, as shown inFig. 1, a per-- fectly symmetrical central section, and, on y opposite sides thereof, a plurality of sections such that for each section on one side there is an exact-ly equal section on the other. For

example, still referring to Fig.V 1, .the centralv section 14 is so constructed that Vit lits the central part of any hogshead of a given diam- Weter.' The section 15 or 16, when added thereto, provides the exact dimensions re-` quired for the next piece to be assembled. The sections 15 and 16 are thus identical, and if the Yworkman happens to pick up any vtwo Ysuch sections, regardless of the hogsheads from'which they came, he is assured that they will provide the necessary llit in the new head 4which he is assembling. In Fig. 1 the central section is illustrated as being wider than the others. Because of its greater length, and thecurvature at its end, this central section Vcan be readily identified. Any such central section can be picked out by the worksections with the assurance that when placed in the center ofthe head to be assembled, it

will be accurate for the head he desires to makewithout any sawing or other modification. Likewise two sections 15 are readily identifiable by sight, and by, turning over one of them, the workman is assured that they will form accurately the necessary sections` Yactly and precisely the parts required to complete the lhead which he is assembling. ln F ig". A1 the centralsection 14 is illustrated as being' of `great-er width than the sections 15 and 16, and the outside sections 17 and 18 are illustrated as being of less width thanV the sections 15 and 16, but it will be evident that all of the sections may be of exactly the sameV width, and itwill also be evident that in constructing a head in accordance with -Fim 1 it is immaterial 'how many sections are used,provided"only that'tliere is a central section and, on either side thereof respectively, a plurality vof identical sections.

' Referring now to Fig. 2 of the drawings, the

head here-shown consists of a plurality of sections allof the same width. In this embodimentthere are two centralsections 20 and 21, which are absolutely identical in all respects, and for practical purposes correspond to the central section 14 in Fig. 1. Of the remainingr sections .shownin Fig. 2, the sections 23 and 24 are identical and the end sections 27 and 28 are identical.

Referring to Fig.- 3, the sections here shown consist of an even number of sections, but of diderent widths, but it will be observed that the two central sections 32 and 33 are identical; the two sections 34 and 35 are identical, and the two end sections 36 and 37 are identical.

t will be observed that by the foregoing construction of head, any sections of the end closures of any lioqsheads or a number `of hogsheads may all be reassembled readily, and without going through a process of trial and error, into a plurality of identical heads. T he workman knows in advance that any sectionappearing at all similar to the onefor which he is looking will precisely tit the space he desires to` fill without sawing oi any other modification. 4

l/Vhere, as in present practice, the sections of the heads are all likely to be of different widths, with no two sections of any one head absolutely identical, it is customary to resort to the practice illustrated inv Fig. 4, where a central section 40 is provided by an entirely new piece of lumber provided especially for the purpose, and enough sections 41, 4Q, 43, 44 and 45 are indiscriminately added to this to give the desired area, after which thisrrough assembly is sawed as indicated by the dotted line 51 to'produce a new head. All lumber outside of the dotted circle is wasted, and one entirely .new piece of lumber 40 has been utilized.

By the foregoing invention, the use of new lumber and also the waste of old lumber is absolutely avoided. y

Various modifications of the invention will occur to those skilled in the art after knowledgefof` the present disclosure, and it is to be understood that various changes may be made within `the `scope of the present invention, asdelined by the following claim.

What is claimed :r A circular closure for hogsheads and the like, including two groups of sections, Vthe ,sections of each individual group differing in Yshape from the other sections of that group, y

and there being for every section in one of said groups a corresponding and identically shaped sectionin the other of said groups, each ofsaid sections being separately inserted in the end of a hogshead to form theliead and said sections when assembled forming a 'disc closure the perimeter of which is a circle.

In testimony whereof l atliX my signature.

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